The Copa de Campeones is the last big meeting of the international karting season. 70 kilometres south of Barcelona lies the relatively compact and twisty Vendrell track. There is a cafeteria overlooking the starting grid and a big stand along the main straight, from the comfort of which enthusiasts can watch a colourful spectacle, with lots of thrills and harmless spills. The famous pink butterflies are a common sight on kart chasses on this side of the Pyrenees because Julie Tonelli is well-known here. The weekend proved to be wild and windy in this part of Catalonia, to the point where some structural damage occurred. It interfered with the weekend's race schedule and the race organisers were eventually forced to abandon the prefinals in order to complete the event before nightfall.

The Cadete category, which is unique to Spain, serves up a cocktail of 85cc Puma-powered minikarts. These colourfully decorated machines, with seemingly minuscule drivers at the wheel, bomb around a track that is perfect for them. The three PCR Kartban drivers managed to qualify. Moises Soriano was forced to drop out just two laps from the finish, but Pablo Ferri finished 9th. Carmen Boix was up there with the fastest in the race and finished superbly in 5th place.

For the first appearance of KF3's in the Copa de Campeones, Brandon Maïsano repeated his 2006 exploit by winning hands down, after being the fastest in practice and clocking the fastest lap in the race. Although Brandon has had a good season, he was without a win until this meeting, so this was a timely reminder of his talent. Brandon's grit and determination should serve as an example to the other youngsters who stepped up from the Cadet class to take on the stars of KF3, with mixed fortunes. Mathieu Jaminet and Anthony Micoud missed out on the final and Jonathan Elias only managed to complete 2 laps before spinning off the track. It was Sylver Garcia, 4th-placed man in the France Cadet championship series, who turned in the best performance, coming 18th in the final.
Alex Fontana from Switzerland is a fast, experienced driver but after keeping in touch with the leaders through the heats he had to drop out of the final during the 4th lap. Swiss Hutless standard-bearer Yves Von Aesch came home in 23rd position.

With a very competitive field of entrants, KF2 was the top category at Vendrell. Norman Nato had already tried his hand at the wheel of a 125cc Birel gearshift kart in the French Long Circuit Cup in Lyon but here in Vendrell he was racing an Intrepid. Norman was already looking very sharp during the heats against some big name drivers. He drove a perfect final race, taking the lead in the 7th lap after getting past Jérémy Iglesias, who was also on top form that day. The Nato clan were beside themselves with joy at the finish, and Mr Nato senior's face was awash with tears and champagne at the sight of his son on the podium! William Benedetti was back on top form at the wheel of his new Kosmic. He got involved in some superb scraps, but in the end had to make do with 7th place, far below what his exploits in Catalonia would have merited. The 'Sodi Boys', Anthony Abbasse and Alban Varutti, were well in the running, as their 4the and 5th places showed. Finally, it was not Spaniard Miki Monras' lucky day either in what was his last race before switching to car racing.

So that's it for the 2007 season; roll on 2008! Next season we will be introducing a host of new things as the Julie Tonelli Childrens Foundation swings into full action, with new initiatives in motor sport. Our heartfelt thanks go to all the drivers who supported our action in 2007, the spirit of Julie Tonelli lives on!